What should we take on a cruise?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

When you pay your cruise fare all taxes and port charges are included in that fare. Once you get on the ship everything is cashless. If you book tours through the ship before the cruise the charges will go on a credit card. If you book after you are on the ship the charges will go on your on-board tab which will also be charged to your credit card. You can always arrange to pay your on board tabs in cash if you want to. SO if you plan to do that then you need to consider the items listed below and judge how much cash to take. Your ship will have an ATM and depending upon what port stops you make you will likely find ATM's there also.

My advice is take $200 to $300 and you can get more from an ATM if you need it. That's about what I take on a 7 day cruise and rarely use it all. If you decide to take more cash you can lock it in the safe in your cabin. I have been on many cruises and NEVER buy travelers checks as they are a hassle. A small amount of cash and a credit card is all that you will need. I also recommend taking some one and five dollar bills rather than all large bills. They will come in handy for tipping at the airport and when you bargain with vendors in port stops.

The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service), free admissions to all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship except spa services. The things that you will have to pay for are:

GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day; about $70 each for a 7 day cruise. When you check in at the pier they will set up an on-board charge account for you to cover any and everything you may buy on ship. They will issue you a "cruise card" which will also serve as your room key and pass to get on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise they will add the gratuity to your tab and you can pay with a credit card or cash, your choice. So everything on ship except the casino is cashless; everything you buy goes on your account.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided FREE but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and they will add a 15 percent gratuity to each drink and soft drink order. Drinks of cruise ships are generally in the range of $7 to $9 including the 15 percent gratuity that is included in each tab. Beer and wine are slightly less, maybe $6 to $7. The cruise line does sell a soft drink card that allow you unlimited soft drinks for the duration of your cruise. These you must buy the first day of the cruise and they generally cost about $6.00 a day for adults. The cost of the soft drink card also goes on your on-board tab.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise ship employees will take plenty of photographs of you all over the ship, in the dining room, and as you exit the ship in ports. These will cost a lot, like $15 to $25 for most and the cost of them goes on your on-board tab. You can save yourself a lot of money by taking your own photos and asking other passengers to take photos of you; they generally always will.

TOURS/EXCURSIONS: You are not required to book any tours and can get off and on in the ports as much as you want. But the cruise line will offer a lot of tours and these are expensive. Again, they will be either charged to a credit card or go on your on-board tab if you sign up for them on the ship.

SOUVENIRS: Anything you buy on ship from a gift shop or duty free shop goes on your on board account. Things that you buy on shore you pay cash or credit card for. If you plan to buy expensive things like jewelry and/or clothes you SHOULD use your credit card. Major credit cards will be accepted all of the places you are going. If you plan to buy small souvenirs like caps, "T"'s, magnet, from vendor stands then you may be better taking cash, but you shouldn't need very much cash, maybe about $50 for each stop.

CASINO: If you plan to gamble on ship you will need cash for that. Most cruise ships will allow you to get cash in the casino cage/change window and charge it to your on-board tab.

OTHER: Your ship will have what they call "specialty" restaurants where there IS a gratuity/service charge of between $10 and $20. All other food on board is free and its not really necessary to budget for food; you cannot eat all of the FREE FOOD that will be available (so why pay to go eat).

SPA SERVICES: If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, you will have to pay for them. Spa fees start at about $70 to $80 and they go on your on-board tab if you use the spa services. You can use the gym free but the spa stuff cost big bucks.

INTERNET SVCS: Ships now have internet cafe and some have WiFi but the there is a fee for internet access and it is very expensive (like about $50 an hour). Skip the high priced internet and ship and wait for port stops where you can usually

Carol c

I'm going on the same cruise I believe, but mine is in two weeks. The Carnival Liberty.

So about $400 in cash it sounds like might be enough?
I was going to take my laptop but have learned how costly it is to use so I probably won't do that. I'll wait for to use the internet cafe at the various ports.

dan

cruise love to raise prices on drinks! my friends and i have taken some plastics flasks with liquor ion them . drink prices on cruise are about 8-15 dollars. they rape you. check out these flasks.

Kristina L

Cruise ships work on a 'cashless' system. They will record your debit/credit card at the embarkation and all purchases on the ship will be billed to this card. Your room key is used for these on-board purchases. This includes the on-board shops, shore excursions booked through the ship, alcoholic beverages and the gratuity payment.

You may want to bring extra cash for going to shore. Sometimes the little shops don't take debit/credit cards. If you chose not to do shore excursions organized by the cruise and go off on your own thing - you may need it for taxis, tipping, shopping or grabbing an ice cream from a local vendor. You may also want to bring cash in case you want to tip someone extra on the cruise boat. Generally a cruise will charge your gratuity at the end of the cruise (generally about $10 a day, but each cruise line has their own policy) but if someone goes out of their way to do something nice for you, you might want to tip them a little extra - and you would do this in cash directly to them.

I've never taken travelers checks with me and never needed them. Cards and cash pretty much cover everything, but you should do what makes you comfortable.

EDIT: When I say "debit" card I am refering to the check card that is linked to your bank account and has a VISA/MASTERCARD logo on it. If it is a straight ATM card, it will not work on the cruise. You'll want to bring a minimum of $400.00 (cash or travelers checks) to put a deposit on your ship account.

Johan from Sweden

Youre best bet would be to put some money on a credit card like visa or mastercard. Then you could easy open youre onboard account and the bills are charged directly through youre credit card.

Othervise youll have to make a deposit of money when you start the cruise. Either cash or through your card (I dont know if debet card is accepted in the same way as credit card thou, check with youre cruise line!)

But youll probably want to take some cash (us dollars probably) for your expencives like casino playes and what you use on shore excursions.

Talking about shore excursions: Book the ones that you realy wanna go on beforehand since theyre could be a limited number of them. That could be done through youre cruise lines web page. Johan.

.:. LoLa .:.

When I went I took my debit card, cash, and travelers checks!

Just take all to make things simpler and to have options.

seventy

take your cards but get some currency before you travel for taxis etc.
Don't forget a plug that coverts the current so you can charge your mobile/cell phone etc

worknlakeside

You will not need your debit card once on board they will record the info upon check in and then give you a room key this will work as a credit card and your id on and off the ship. As for other cool things to bring on-board to make life easier go to cruisecritic.com and they will have terrific tips there. Now here is a few that I do. A highlighter for the daily activities list. 2. extra hangers to hang up stuff lightweight ones if your flying or maybe stop off and get some when you land the ship might be able to come up with some for you too. Pwr strip to plug in cameras an cell phones. DON"T use your cell phone in the caribbean it's very expensive. These are just a few. Have a great time your in for the time of your life!

megakatlover

If you are planning on purchasing stuff from locals (souvenirs, taxis, tours, etc.) you need some cash (we usually take $200-$500, depending on how much we're planning to do ashore). Also, don't be afraid to negotiate pricing when you're ashore - you can talk them down a lot!

Otherwise, like others have said, it's all through your sail and sign card (room key) account, which is linked to your credit or debit card.

HAVE FUN!

randall_nd

One of the best places to get cruise information is at cruisecritic.com

Highly Favoured

You definitely have to bring your credit card since they will link it to your ship pass that will be used for all on board purchases and to enter and leave the ship. You should also bring cash to pay for goods and services off the ship where there are no facilities for credit cards usage. What I usually do is to put on money on my credit card before traveling since I do not want to go over the credit limit. You can also bring your debit card if you want to to withdraw cash. I am not sure if you will get US cash from the machine in St. Maarten.

You should also bring your swim wear, sunblock, formal night wear for the Captain's ball and light clothing.

Jackson R

It's easier to take some of all because if one gets lost then you have to do some serious work to get money either by calling your credit card company or finding atm's or etc.
It also gives you options for paying when it may be easier to use cash in a local market than a debit card.

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